means to be excluded Senates Aaron is to be the Mouth of Moses in every thing in which Moses ought to be his God and that is reciprocally and Universally upon all accounts and at all aventures They are the words of him who was both a King and a Preacher Eccles 12.9 The Preacher must be wise to teach the people Knowledge how can he find out acceptable words such words as may be as goods or Nails fastned in a sure place unless he be permitted to converse with those that are the Masters of Assemblies and so may he speak such words as are given from one Shepherd But I need not magnifie the Priest's Office in this particular the happy temperament of the Constitution under which we live is an abundant demonstration to us that the laws by which we are governed were instituted in the fear of God and consequently the Obligation is greater upon the subject to obey them since the Authority that confirms them is both Spiritual and Temporal I pass by this double honour possibly some think it too much for those that labour in the Word and Doctrine and I follow that which is the great designe of the Text the Union that is here fixed and everlastingly to be promoted and therefore the Word is singular Regis sacerdotis unum est Os there is but one Mouth assigned both to King and Priest the one is to think the other to speak the same thing Moses and Aaron to go hand in hand together Hence it is observable that they were Both of the Tribe of Levi ver 14. is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother The Levite and thy Brother and his Mouth to be thy Mouth to speak the words which Thou shalt put into it Why then should there be any difference betwixt Moses and Aaron since they are Brethren They are Both of the same Tribe which the Lord had chosen out of all the Tribes of Israel to come and Minister before him the One was to deliver the Other to teach and instruct Both together to establish and confirm in a perpetual and never ceasing Oeconomy what are the judgements and the statutes of God and Man And all this not to Jacob and Israel onely but to Pharaoh and the Egyptians also 1. Aaron is the Mouth of Moses to the People that is to Israel to tell them that they are the Visited and Beloved of the Lord to proclaim to them the Royal Law of liberty out of the house of bondage from their slavery to wish them to follow the directions of their Law giver Moses who will rule them according to the integrity of his heart and guide them with the skilfulness of his hand with the skilfulness of his hand with great and wonderfull Dexterity will he extricate them out of all their miseries remove their shoulders from the burdens and their hands from making the pots 2. And so Aaron to be the Mouth of Moses to Pharaoh and his servants to denounce and execute as many Plagues on him and his people as are the Tribes of Israel if you reckon the plagues and signs together from first to last a Plague for each Tribe because of the hard and cruel bondage wherein he made each of them to serve neither would he permit them to depart in peace from amongst them that they might worship the Lord their God And here by the way we may take notice how necessary is this Union betwixt King and Priest how comfortable is their mutual assistance then especially when there is danger of a common enemy both to Church and State when there are a Generation of Men like Pharaoh who will not permit the people to be at quiet onely because Moses and Aaron would have them to serve the Lord how should Moses at such a time stand at the door of the Tabernacle with the Rod of God in his hand for the defence of Aaron and how should Aaron lift up his voice in the behalf of Moses hold up his hands lest that Amalech prevail in a word The Commandment is to go forth from Both to restore and to build the Temple the One must stand like stout Nehemiah with his sword in his hand that so the work be not hindered the Other not unlike holy Ezra a Prophet of the Lord with the sword or the keys of the Kingdom in his Mouth that so it may be perfected in Righteousness great is the care which Both together must take for many are the kindnesses which Both together must do unto the House of God and the Offices thereof O then may Aarons Bells never ring backward if ever let it be to call the people as One man to the quenching of a common flame let it be to stand between the living and the dead when a plague is begun that it may be staid pro Te loquetur He shall speak for Thee to the people surely then he is not so to speak as to inveigh against him to aggravate his failings to exasperate and calumniate his Person before the people he may lift up his Voice like a Trumpet but it must not be the Trumpet of sedition the Alarm of War sounding to battel from the Pulpit let him cry aloud yea and he may not spare to tell Judah and Israel of their sins but it is not fitting to say to a Prince that he is wicked Such language as this does least of all become the Mouth of Aaron Much more unseemly is it for him to say before the People be they Israel it will increase their murmurings be they Egyptians it will add to their hard-heartedness that Moses is ungodly God doth hear the blasphemy of those who do in the least though it be but in a thought slander the footsteps of his Anointed Aaron himself was too sad an instance of this when he murmured against Moses saying Num. 12.2 hath the Lord indeed spoken onely by Moses hath he not also spoken by us Yes he hath spoken by you Both and yet the Leprosie upon Miriam's forehead may be an intimation unto Aaron that he do cover his Mouth and shut his lips such language as this hath defiled them Unclean unclean But the meekness of Moses was soon intreated and the God of mercy did accept of his intercession so that immediately there was a healing of this breach and Aaron is still continued to be the Mouth of Moses to the People To the people if to Moses surely much more to them and the People are to attend to him with reverence upon this treble account because that he is the Mouth of God of the King and also of the People Heb. 5.1 Every High Priest is Ordained for men that is is set over men in things pertaining to God the manner of expression in the Original is the same with the Septuagint in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every High Priest is set over men as concerning those things which are to God-ward that is the interpretation may fairly be admitted
solemn form of Words The Word of the Lord came unto me saying which is no more then as it were the Opening of their Commission the Reading of their Patent the first shewing and vouching of that Authority by which they act all which is an intimation unto us that the Supreme Magistrate and other subordinate Rulers and Governours sent by Him for the punishment of wickedness and vice and the praise of those that do well have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something of Divinity stampt both on their Persons and their Office and consequently that Both are Sacred This account you have of the Compellation as it may be applicable either to King Priest or any Ministerial Dispensour of Publick Justice whence by the way it is again observable That the Priest had all along from the beginning his share in the Civil Government if the Word of God came to Moses in that he was instead of God yet it was to be spoken or published from the Mouth of Aaron and therefore S. Paul when he had spoken less warily to the High Priest begs pardon with an acknowledgement of his fault as a transgression of that inhibition beforecited Num. xxii 28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods I wist not brethren that he was the High Priest for it is written Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy People Act. xxiii 5. So then if they Both act by one and the same Commission he of the two that hath the Preeminence for a Supremacy and Subordination must be admitted else there could be no Government does no more then vindicate to himself his own Royal Prerogative whilst he secures as firm and inviolable to the other his Priestly priviledges and immunities and in this sense most properly and to best purpose is Moses to be unto Aaron instead of God Instead of God yea and that in as many respects as Aaron was to be to him instead of a Mouth the Relation being all along mutual and reciprocal Instead of God to Aaron whether it be before the Israelites or the Egyptians 1. Before the Israelites yea though they be the two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly Num. xvi 1. Men of renown famous in the Congregation gathered together in a grand conspiracy to invade the Priesthood Moses must then speak as from God himself and declare who it is that is holy amongst them whom the Lord hath chosen to come nigh unto himself v. 11. What is Aaron that ye murmure against him 2. Before the Egyptians Pharaoh his servants and his People cap. vii 1. I have set thee as a God to Pharaoh and Aaron thy brother shall be thy Prophet Thou shalt speak what I command as from me to Aaron and He shall speak what Thou shalt suggest as from me to Pharaoh and thus Thou shalt be as God to them Both Mine Oracle to the One to reveal all my mind my Rod and Scourge upon the Other to execute all my wrath though he will not as a man of wisdom should hear the Rod and him that hath appointed it yet thou shalt multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt Jannes and Jambres though they may withstand shall not altogether prevail when they see the dust from under them to crawl up in Vermin on them they shall lay their hands upon their Mouths and abhor themselves in that Dust acknowledge this to be the Finger of God and throughout all they shall confess that the Rod in the hand of Moses was guided by the Arm of the Almighty Thus God hath fenced against a common enemy both King and Priest in a mutual dependance the One with Power sufficient that he may uphold the Other with a sure defence that he may be sustained and the interests of Both these are so interwoven together that where-ever the Breach is made the injury is alike damage to Both. It is the same God who hath given commandment concerning Princes that they should not be touched by the hands of violence Touch not mine Anointed as they are Anointed they are Mine they are as my self who hath likewise in the very next words given it in charge whether it be to Prince or People to Magistrate or Peasant concerning those who have a more immediate attendance upon him Do my Prophets no harm As therefore Aarons Divine Mouth must be opened for not against Moses he must not traduce speak evil of him before the People So Moses's God-like Power must be exercised and exerted for not against Aaron he must not suffer him to be exposed to the scorn and reproach of a froward and an untoward generation In order to which Defence that their persons may be Venerable whose office is so sacred the maintenance of whom in honour is so great a security unto Majesty to be sure Moses will be careful that Aaron and his sons have an inheritance allotted to them in the Promised Land and that not apart or distinct by themselves but as a Blessing to whole Israel dispersed amidst and throughout all their Tribes This was Moses's last Benediction upon the House of Levi not long before his death Deut. xxxiii 11. Bless Lord his substance and accept the work of his hands smite through the loins of them that rise against him and that hate him that they rise not again It is not to be imagined that Moses will take less care of Aaron and the Levites then did Pharaoh of his Egyptian Priests who in the days of famine had enough their portion of meat assigned to them from Pharaoh's Table insomuch that when all the land of Egypt was bought into the Crown Gen. xlvii 22. Onely the lands of the Priests were not sold In this sense also is Moses to be to Aaron in the stead of God to secure unto him the Lord's inheritance since dreadful are like to be the effects of Sacriledge upon that Nation or People amongst whom it is an iniquity though endeavoured to be established by a Law May the King and his Throne be guiltless the Kingdom established unto him in Righteousness for He onely is as God who doth preserve in the hollow of his hand the Churches portion from the violence of such who pant after nothing but the Dust of the Earth upon the Head of the Poor One inference more The words of the Text are spoken Universally and at large without the least limitation and restriction which may be an intimation to us That this labour of love here required from one to the other must be reciprocal the Union preserved inviolable whatsoever personal provocations may unhappily intervene on either side We do humbly crave pardon whilst we do suppose that which we need not fear since we are assured that Moses was the most true hearted man in all the earth faithfull in all the House of God yet should he refuse to be a God to Aaron withhold his protection from him so put a veil over his face that he should not in the least behold his
without any great stress upon the words set over the ordinary sort of men to tell them with Authority and with Power what is their duty either to God or his Vicegerent to the Lord of Lords or to those who are instead of God and they who do resist or despise either One or the Other do not despise or resist the Man in either of them but the God that is in them Both. And this brings me to the Second thing I observed from the Text which is the due Execution firm Establishment and sure Administration of both these Authorities together and that no otherwise then by a Divine Dispensation Whilst the Prince doth defend the Priests of the most High God he doth so stand by himself the Throne is thus established to him in Righteousness the Kingdom confirmed in the hands of Moses whilst he is unto Aaron and to his sons instead of God Instead of God in his quae ad Deum Vulg. That is in the letter of the Text in those things which pertain to God Tu eris illi in Principem quaerentem Doctrinam à facie Domini Targ. Jonath Thou shalt be a Prince to him a Prophet as well as he yea and somthing more then a Prophet he shall seek the Word which he is to speak from Thee and that as it were from the face of God Numb xii 6 9. If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self known to him in a Vision or I will speak to him in a dream but my servant Moses is not so this is the difference betwixt him and Aaron with him will I speak Mouth to Mouth even apparently not in dark speeches and the Similitude of the Lord that is of God-man to come in the flesh this Similitude of the Lord as praelusory to the reality of his Incarnation shall he behold So that what was Jethro's counsel betwixt Moses and the People seems here to be Gods institution betwixt him and Aaron cap. xviii 19. Moses was to be to Aaron to God-ward to bring the causes unto and to receive the Law from God and Aaron being to be his Oratour or his Herald was to make Proclamation of the Divine Law unto the People and upon all occasions to consult the Face of Moses the Face which did shine because of the Divine Glory on it and was therefore to be consulted as an oracle This Paraphrase though it may be true in the Letter of the Text yet to take in the scope of the whole Paragraph which is a Union fixed by God himself betwixt these two we must as to this expression further improve our search Instead of God that is to defend him that so he may speak boldly for thee as he ought to speak that his Mouth which is no longer his but Thine may be opened for Thee in confidence We find in this book of Exodus that Princes and the chief Ministers of justice amongst men are first called Gods cap. xxi 6. the servant that had a mind to continue with his Master for ever was to come unto the Judges that is unto the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original and before them was the perpetual service to be ratified and again cap. xxii 8. The thief was to be brought to the Judges that is to the Gods the same word in the Original to see whether he had put his hands to his neighbour's goods and v. 28. such Magistrates are secured from all manner of slander that may be cast upon them by malice or evil speaking Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy People They are called Gods upon several accounts I briefly instance but in two the Ubiquity of their Presence the Omniscience of their Knowledge 1. The Ubiquity of their Presence they are every where their influence is unlimited the fancy is not new ancienter then a modern Poet and I hope may now be better applied that Kings and Princes do in this resemble the Deity being like a Circle whose centre is every where and whose circumference is no where God and the King can do no harm the reason is that Diffusive influence that is from Both directing managing swaying and conveying all the good and all the happiness that is felt or enjoyed by the lower world or the inferiour sort of mankind all which is purely the product of Providence from the One and Government from the Other and if the Sun shining upon a Dunghil doth exhale vapours that are offensive it is not because there are spots in the Sun in Heaven but there is corruption in the Dunghil upon earth 2. The Omniscience of their Knowledge they do as it were know every thing Prov. xvi 10. A Divine sentence is in the lips of the King His Mouth erreth not in judgement Who could have thought that the way to find out the bowels of a Mother was to make the Child a sacrifice till King Solomon as the first effort of his Princely Spirit tried the experiment but says the Text 1 Kin. iii. 28. The wisdom of God was in the King to do judgement And this kind of Omniscience is a gift bestowed upon Judges and other Ministers of Justice when they execute the laws of God and the King upon Capital offenders the indictment against whom is that they have not the fear of God before their eyes our Law taking special notice of the malice of the heart and proving that by some Overt-act whilst many times the Judge upon the Bench to the admiration of the standers by through a little very little glimpse of a most improbable circumstance doth unravel a whole mystery of iniquity so that on a sudden the Prisoner stands self-condemned at the Bar he might spare both Judge and Jury the trouble of bringing in and pronouncing their Verdict since the sentence of Death is to be read in his countenance and his face gathers blackness what can all this be but an immediate assistance a special illumination from God himself in the moment of judgement Psal lxxxii 1. God standeth in the Congregation of the Mighty he judgeth among the Gods v. 6. I have said ye are Gods Grotius upon these and the like expressions in Scripture tells us that whereever the name of God is given unto men significat judiciariam potestatem jus vitae necis it implies a judiciary power and that no less then of life and death Our blessed Saviours Comment upon the compellation which certainly is the best runs thus Saint John x. 35. he called them Gods D. Ham. unto whom the Word of God came it is observed by a learned Paraphrast of our own that the coming of the Word of the Lord signifies Gods appointing a Man to some particular Office and giving him power and ability for the performance of that Office to which he is appointed and so it is constantly used in the writings of the Prophets who do most of them begin their Prophecies with this
God will secure a Blessing unto that which is his own appointment He will be with the Priest because his Mouth is no other then the Mouth of God He will be with the Prince because he hath made him to be as himself instead of God but still his Presence with Both is the result of Union because the God of Israel which is to be in subjection unto Both hath declared himself that he is but One God how can Moses be the Fear and the Dread of Pharaoh unless he be the Love the Choice and the Desire of Aaron How can Aaron be as he proved afterwards cap. x. 7. a Snare unto Pharaoh and his servants at the opening of whose Mouth Egypt was to be destroyed unless he hang upon the lips the words which he speaks be a faithful and distinct Eccho to the voice of Moses without Aaron's Mouth the meekness of Moses will be soon despised and without the Arm of Moses stretched out in defence the Voice of Aaron will be but beating of or speaking to the air Unless that Aaron be the Mouth of Moses what though his face shine the people will but the sooner turn away from him cum Jove Caesar God and the King as to Government have alike prerogatives Thunder from above bespeaks the Deity as terrible Thus the Highest doth give forth his Voice Boanerges a son of Thunder here below declares earthly Majesty to be also dreadful But unless Moses put words into the mouth of Aaron stands by him and stands up to him while he speaks stretches out his Rod whilst he lifts up his Voice the Mouth of Aaron without this will be Vox praeterea nihil a Voice indeed but nothing else the noise no sooner heard but no where to be found Whose Mouth is fittest to preserve knowledge and to proclaim Obedience but his who is the Messenger of God and of the King of the Lord of hosts and of him who like unto God himself is mighty in the battel and whose Arm should be made bare in strength but theirs who are the Anointed of the Lord Anointed in a great measure for this very thing that they should be a Guard and a Protection to all Gods Holy Ones since they are themselves not unfitly called Gods being all of them children of the Most Highest Shall I with all humility and due Reverence speak the words of truth and soberness it is in the Cause of God of the King and also of his Priests As the happiness is great to that People where this Union is most religiously observed no other then as the result of the Divine Institution so sad is the misery deplorable is the calamity both to King Priest and People upon the breach of it I need go no farther for an instance then the story that is before us Would Moses and Aaron bring the people from Egypt through a wilderness into Canaan This must be their March Regular and solemn Num. ii 3. compared with Num. iii. 38. Judah the Princely Tribe must set up his Standard Eastward Moses and Aaron Prince and Priest must keep the charge of the Sanctuary Eastward and hence not improbably the ancient Ceremony of worshipping with their faces thither-ward Judah sets up his Standard for the Laity Moses and Aaron theirs for the Clergy and yet the latter to go along with Judah the Prince who was to protect them when settled in the Land of Promise and upon the whole whosoever he was the stranger that came nigh to either of them was to be put to death This was their March unto that Rest which God had prepared for them And yet notwithstanding their Station and Procession thus fixed by the Almighty do Moses Aaron speak unadvisedly with their lips either one to another one of another or one against another at the waters of Massah and Meribah places that bore their names from those strivings and contentions the anger of the Lord is immediately kindled against them all and it was so inraged that it was by no means to be appeased Moses and Aaron must onely see that Land of Promise into which they are never like to come it shall be their punishment to behold what they never shall injoy in the view of but their foot shall not tread upon the goodly Mountain nor Lebanon and then as for the People their Carcases must fall in the wilderness this is a froward Generation it shall not enter into the Rest of God! When once there be Divisions many are the thoughts many are the searchings of heart I would not be mistaken as an evil-speaker or a fore-boder of evil tidings while I do thus mournfully and with all lowly submission crave leave to make out the Parallel Doth the Civil Magistrate either needlessly contend with or wilfully draw back the secular Arm from the Defence of the Ministry and does he think thus to still the murmurings of the people as the raging of the Sea so is their madness casting forth nothing but mire and dirt foaming out their own shame and is there no way to lay the storm but by mixing the waters with bloud hath the Pilot no means to secure the Ship but by throwing the Prophet into the waters especially such a Prophet as doth not fly from but is stedfastly bent on his Course to deliver and execute the Mesfage of his Master that sent him Again is the Spiritual Mouth either silent in the behalf of or clamorous and obstreperous against doth it either not speak at all as it should in the defence or is it froward malepert and peevish against the secular Arm do they who should consult the stars of Heaven for direction in the voyage either withhold their advice from or unreasonably quarrel with him that sits Steersman at the Helm This may be the dreadful consequence of such ill will between Both in Portu Naufragium certain ruine and destruction to the Ship and all that are in it yea and that in the Ken of the desired Haven as an aggravation to their Misery in the very sight of Land Virtutem videant intabescántque relictâ This is the sore calamity upon such sad animosities and dissatisfactions on either hand a strange kind of infatuation upon all manner of counsels and designs be they never so just and honourable they may see what is good and yet it doth escape them a price put into their hand and it falls away from them for want of a pious heart united to each other in Love and Duty and to God the maker of Both in Fear and Reverence mutually to be exercised in the using of it And here by the way let it be seriously considered that the first Rejection of Saul from being King over Israel was because he invaded the Priesthood let our new Leviathan suggest what he pleases that the Civil Magistrate may reserve the exercise of the Ministerial Function to himself yea though there might be some reasonable excuse for it as his enemies growing and
coming on upon him and he was not willing to ingage them till he had made his supplication before the Lord 1 Sam. xiii 11 15. But God had commanded the contrary he was not of himself to make a Vertue of that Necessity without an express permission therefore says Samuel Thou hast done foolishly and thy Kingdom shall not continue whereupon God chose to himself a Man after his own heart one who to avoid such future presumption should be a Prophet as well as a Prince and therefore the eating of the Shew-bread upon an extream necessity was not in him so notorious a violation of Sacred and Ecclesiastical Order This was that David who called for his Sword which hung behind the Ephod 1 Sam. xxi 9. Give it me says he for there is none like that he goes forth with the Prayers and the Blessing of the Priests to battel 1 Sam. xxiii 9. still I would urge a Testimony from Scripture though it may be sadly observed a new way of spinning out discourses without any the least regard had to the Law and the Prophets Bring me hither the Ephod says David that Ephod from behind which he took his Sword and so it was consecrated for the Lord's battels thus doth he enquire of the Lord upon every enterprise and that in no other way then according to the Divine Institution with a linen Ephod The answer from God to him was either a speedy return of Peace and safety or else a sure caution certainly to prevent and escape the Danger Upon this doth Doeg that wicked Edomite put forth his hand to fall upon the Priests of the Lord kills them onely to take possession of their inheritance and is Abiathar escaped unto David with the Ephod in his hand there was a strange Providence in the escape and a wonderful security unto Both in that flight 1 Sam. xxii 23. Abide with me says the King unto the Priest and fear not for he that seeketh my Life seeketh thy Life but with me thou shalt be in safeguard Both these for a while may be hunted after upon the Mountains by the sons of violence and yet they travailing together in yea and persecuted through a wilderness shall even there find a Sanctuary at the Mount of God and in God's due time which is the best for Both these Two keeping still close together the Consecrated Sword in the hand of the One the linen Ephod upon the breast of the Other the Kingdom shall be established in the hand of the One the Priesthood shall be confirmed to the house of the Other these are the sure mercies of David and of the Son of David to them Both But let not David in his prosperity forget the House of Abiathar which was afflicted with him in all his affliction nor let Abiathar in his eminency and prelacy be unmindful of the servants of David so oversee them as to overlook them who were formerly a security to him when he fled from the face of Tyranny and Oppression let Both together live in that mutual Dependance in which God hath set them carrying on the same designe so advantagious to Both keeping as sacred this Union which I must still re-inforce to be the Divine Institution lest the last errour prove worse then the first and again some rebellious Sheba do blow the Trumpet God in his mercy prevent such doleful Alarms that they never more be heard amongst us To your Tents O Israel we have no part in David nor inheritance in the son of Jess Now see to thine own house David And would David look well to his own house it must be by having a due regard unto and a tender care of the House of God Thus Psal cxxxii 1. God remembers David and all his trouble in that this was his Oath unto the Lord this was his Vow unto the mighty God of Jacob that he would not come within the Tabernacle of his house nor climb up unto his Bed until he found out a Place for the Lord and with this most pathetick repetition of the words of his vow an Habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. The instance in the Text is the conclusion of the whole matter v. 27. Aaron met Moses in the Mount of God and kissed him Oh happy interview Moses and Aaron mutually embracing locus honestat the very Place bespeaks both Love and Honour it was at the Mount of God and then the Ceremony denotes both Veneration and endearment Osculum dignitatis he kissed him as a Token of subjection to him thus acknowledging his Majesty and Supremacy deosculatus est ex amore he rejoyced in his heart when he saw him and because he loved him he gave the seal of his affections with his lips an intimation at this first greeting that his Mouth joyned unto those lips quasi coalescebant in Unum Os was now become but One Mouth with which he was resolved to proclaim Liberty to the Captives and after that enjoyn obedience to those ransomed ones This was Aarons promise unto Moses and that because of the Divine appointment the Brethren being doubly dear to each other both in the flesh and in the Lord that he would be Moses's Spokesman unto the People he would be even he would be unto him instead of a Mouth Moses embraceth Aaron in the Arms of Love and of Protection the Rod in his hand is a Sceptre of favour held out as a token of good will and kind acceptance to him This is the Rod which shall be stretched out working wonders in the defence of the Priesthood Moses embracing him in his Arms assures him from his very heart to the heart of his Brother that they Two thus clasping together coalescebant in Unum Hominem became now but One Man this being the Promise of Moses that he would never be unmindful of the Word of the Lord as an everlasting Command upon him That he should be unto Aaron instead of God Appl. Let it be known this day that there is a God in Israel that this God is to be worshipped and that in the Administration of this worship the Priesthood is to be secured from Contempt to be had in honour for the works sake about which it doth converse I dare not in the least venture to give directions here he must not presume who is the meanest and unworthiest of all the sons of Aaron who hath not been Eloquent neither heretofore nor since the Word of the Lord came unto him but humbly beg we may and heartily in all Duty and Submission invoke we must the Assistance of the Secular Arm lest both our Message and our Persons be altogether despised Did I say our Message or our Persons alas we can easily venture both these through a bad or through a good report and be unconcerned But sad it is to behold that amongst those that are baptized Christians Atheism and Profaneness should so strangely overspread it self yea and that notwithstanding so many popular Discourses every
where made about the reasonableness of Religion hence it is that the offerings of the Lord have been abhorred amongst us whilst irreligion and a licentious Libertinisme doth exalt it self above all that is called God or Good in the midst of us what means else the bleating of the Oxen of the beasts of Bashan in our ears the continued murmurings and gain-sayings of Core strange fire every where offered up whilst the Lamp burning bright in the Sanctuary is neglected and all this mischief from some of the sons of Levi pretended ones at least fomented by the dissentions of false Brethren men that cannot be contented with their present station but they lead aside the simple and the ignorant into Houses Oh! may our new Laws for which we bless God and have more and more cause to honour and obey Authority may these be executed and may our old Ones not quite antiquated be seasonably re-inforced and shall I humbly make one request laying that and my self at the feet of Majesty in the behalf of the place from whence I came and for which I now serve Let not us the little children of the Prophets in the very Schools of the Prophets be exposed to the obstinate perverseness of ignorance and sedition Aaron's Mouth is opened for Moses to the people to declare his Authority as from God to be Sacred and Inviolable that he is not subject to Man nor the sons of Men for any of his actions but to his own Master he must stand or fall even to God alone who hath appointed him it is yet open for Moses at the Mercy-seat before the holy Altar that he may be filled with Grace Wisdom and Understanding in the execution of Justice and the maintenance of Truth And what may Aaron humbly expect in return from Moses nay what does the Lord God require of him but that Moses should be as God to secure unto God his Oblation the Morning and the Evening Sacrifice never to cease And is not all this for the Lord's sake for the Lord who hath preserved the Rod of Moses in strength and honour who hath confirmed his Blessing upon Aaron in that his Rod also hath budded and bloomed Blossoms and brought forth Almonds the fruits of Joy and Peace God hath as we do every day thankfully Commemorate it made the Horn of David though once cut down to flourish and sprout forth again he hath ordained a Lamp and a Light for his Anointed a Lamp from out of the Sanctuary to guide him in the ways of Peace and Truth that so he dash not his foot against any stone of stumbling which Schism and Rebellion may lay in his way he hath restored Majesty the Excellency of Majesty to his Prince He hath renewed Beauty the Beauties of Holiness to his Priests and we hope and pray that he hath given and will continue security the Certainty of Defence unto Both Oh that the people therefore would in the fear of God Honour the King and reverence his Priests that so there may be a further lengthning of our tranquillity neither shall our iniquity our froward peevish iniquity be our utter ruine in vain shall we pretend Loyalty to Moses the servant of the Lord if we vex Aaron the saint of God What shall we quarrel at those who bring and at that Administration which doth dispence the Gospel of everlasting Peace How can we thus expect to be at peace amongst our selves May then the Throne be established in Righteousness even upon the Mount of God and may the Mount of God be guarded by the glorious and sure Defence of Angels because of the Throne of him who is as God which is upon it thus as upon a Rock the Rock of Ages shall Church and Kingdom be built * nec Portae Gehennae nec Genevae as once by a happy mistake out of the vulgar that Text was read neither the Gates of Hell nor the Dark close designs of Schism and Sedition shall ever be able to prevail against them * In Gebennico lacu Mendum Typographi est in Gehennico lacu Námque à Gehennâ quid Gebenna dissidet Pia Hilaria Angel Gaz. impres Lond. pag. 68. I conclude all with those Pathetical Petitions which our holy Church hath put into our Mouths for better I cannot use and God accept them from the bottom of all our hearts O Lord Save the King And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee Endue thy Ministers whether of Justice in the State or Holiness in the Church with Righteousness And so shalt thou make thy chosen people joyful Da pacem in diebus nostris Give Peace in our time O Lord For whether it be against open violence and force offered from abroad or against secret Treachery and privy Conspiracy fomented at home whether against professed Enemies or meerly pretending Friends the worst of Enemies there is no other that fighteth for us but onely Thou O God To this onely wise God who is alone able to make us understand our own happiness by keeping us in the strict and solemn observance of Uniformity at Unity amongst our selves that so to Prince Priests and People there may be but One heart and One mind in the Fear of him in Love and Duty to one another To the Authour of our Peace and of every good and perfect gift amongst us To Father Son and Holy Ghost Three Persons and One God be ascribed of us of all Angels and all men The Kingdom the Power and the Glory Dominion and Adoration world without end Amen FINIS